Pitch Carries Two Unrelated Words in One Spelling
Pitch is a throw, a musical height and a playing field. It is also black tar, and that meaning is a separate word.
Pitch means to throw, the highness or lowness of a sound, and in Britain a sports field. A second and entirely separate *pitch* is the black sticky substance from tar or resin — the one behind *pitch black* and *pitch dark*. The first comes from Old English *picchen*, to thrust; the second from Latin *pix*, tar. English has simply merged two spellings. A sales pitch borrows the throwing sense: the seller pitches an idea at you.
- To throw. *Pitch the ball.*
- Musical height. *Perfect pitch.*
- A playing field (British). *The cricket pitch.*
- A sales talk. *A sales pitch.*
- Black tar. *Pitch black.*
Word forms
| Form | Word | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Verb | pitch | Pitch it. |
| Past | pitched | He pitched. |
| Noun | pitch | The pitch. |
| Agent | pitcher | The pitcher. |
| Latin | pix | Tar. |
- He pitched the tent by the river.To fix.
- She has perfect pitch.Music.
- It was pitch dark.The tar word.
The many senses in one word
- Throw — pitch a ball, pitch in to help
- Fix in place — pitch a tent, pitch camp
- Sound — high pitch, pitch perfect
- Slope — the pitch of a roof
- Tar — pitch black, unrelated to all the rest
The throwing sense is from Middle English *picchen*, to thrust. The tar sense is from Old English *pic*, from Latin *pix*.
Why is very dark called pitch black?
From pitch, the black tar residue of distilled resin. That pitch is a separate word from the one meaning to throw.
Is a sales pitch related to throwing?
Yes. The seller throws an idea at the listener, extending the older sense of pitching something.